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Wednesday, April 15, 2009

Tax Day

Once upon a time, there were no home computers. People filled out their tax returns by hand, using pen and ink. A good many of them cut it close and dropped their returns into the mail on the last possible day.

These people made life wonderful for television news reporters. All we had to do was hang out at the post office. The story came to you.

The Buggles sang "Video Killed the Radio Star." Home computers killed a darn decent television news story. There is no longer a last day rush at the post office. Electronic filing took care of that.

It's over.

However, there are still some good tax related stories out there. Yesterday, we discovered the Internal Revenue Service expects more people to say "I don't have the money to pay my taxes" this year. You may have heard the economy is in tough shape. You still have to file a return today, or ask for an extension. You also have to give the IRS something. A lot of people didn't know they could pay in installments, and we passed along that information yesterday. A tax preparer said the IRS will work with you, but there is interest and penalties.

Moot point all around, for me, today... My taxes were done months ago, and I have the day off today.

As the legendary Paul Harvey would have said, this next section is "partly personal." A WNEP photographer was at the Bentley's grand opening Sunday. A couple ladies, who said they know me, asked the photographer to pass along their regards. She did. I'm still not sure who you are. Drop me an e-mail or voice mail at the office. Thanks.